


With a Little Help From My Friends

by ohbibs



Category: Grey's Anatomy, Grey's Anatomy: B-Team (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Light Angst, M/M, Schmico
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-07 03:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17952845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohbibs/pseuds/ohbibs
Summary: AU - In which Levi is a workaholic mess of a nerd working in IT needing a change of pace. Enter a sabbatical leave of absence in a charming small city full of pretty landscapes, old and new friends and a certain overly handsome guy who might be more than friend material.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was loosely inspired by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but then a lot of other stuff got into the mix and this is what came out.
> 
> It is my first time actually trying my hand on fanfiction and like the third time trying to write in English at all. Like they say, practice makes perfect. I hope you all enjoy it - and forgive any mistakes, I kind of revised it by myself xD

Dahlia Qadri is too sensible for an engineer. Maybe even for anyone working in the tech industry. So of course she’s the one to kneel down and touch Levi’s arm and try to make eye contact while everyone else stands still, like a bunch of idiots with insanely high IQ, holding plastic cups either filled with beer or that horrible margarita mix that the guys from Marketing brought to the party.

Levi’s hunched down on the floor, eyes shot and breath coming in small, shallow puffs. At this state of mind, his thoughts are not very coherent. So of course along with spiralling deadlines, fixes and bugs on the three apps he manages, the trimester goals and key results and the mortifying shame of having a panic attack right in the middle of a company party, he is also judging his peers. That bunch of useless nerds. Just like Levi himself, right? And he’s judging himself too, of course.

“Hey, look at me” Dahlia says in a slow steady tone while gesturing wildly for someone to get the music down a bit. “Levi.” she insists and when the noise gets just a little less loud, his eyes snap towards hers.

He tries to say something but ends up with a gust of air leaving his open mouth, as if he’d just choked on one of those disgusting industrialised salty peanuts lying untouched on the drinks’ table.

“You’ve got to breathe. Breathe with me.” She inhales loudly, making a show of inflating her chest and nodding encouragingly.

It is stupid. But it kind of works.

After a few rounds, he manages to regain a little sense of his limbs and then Dahlia is practically hoisting him up - _where did this skinny woman get all that strength?_ \- and steering him god knows where. When they push past the heavy door of the staircase and it closes behind them, Kendrick Lamar’s voice is muffled enough for Levi to remember what silence feels like. His ears are still ringing though.

He sits on the first step he can get to, tucking his head between the knees. He tries to focus on keeping the breath thingy going. Dahlia seems to have settled alongside him, rubbing circles on his back. It’s stupid, yet soothing.

“Thanks” he croaks after a little while, risking getting his eyes out of the safety of his hands. Then he pats his face with his fingertips and contorts his face almost in pain. “I think I lost my glasses” he moans “ _again_.”

“I’ve got them” Dahlia smiles putting them in his hand. “Are you better now?” There is a tiny crease between her eyebrows that shows she’s not just being polite.

Levi takes a moment before answering.

“I think so-yeah” his voice is still shaky. He exhales and blurts “You really knew what to do over there.” his gesture on the direction of the party is a little spasmodic.

“I’ve dealt with those before” she says with the same confidence she’d use to talk about coding.

Levi perked up a little at that.

“ _You’ve_ had panic attacks? Did you- you know… make them go away?”

Dahlia leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees.

“Back when I started in the company I was kind of a mess. It was, what, five years ago? I think it isn’t hard for you to imagine how was it like back then. Muslim girl” she tugged at her flowery hijab “working with engineering and with this pretty face?”

Levi snorted at that.

“What? I know how I look good and I own it.” she said raising her eyebrows. “Anyway, yeah, I felt like a fraud, had to work twice as hard than any other _dude_ to get a tiny sliver of recognition. Eventually it became too much. I just had the luck of spasming out at home.”

“You seem fine now. How did you, you know, make it go away?” Levi’s hands start fidgeting with the hem of his button shirt without him realising.

“It wasn’t just one thing.” She raised her eyebrows. “First I did have to cut down the workload.”

Levi deflates at that.

“Right.” He mumbles.

“And then there was therapy and some drastic life changes to take care of the money maker.” She taps her forehead. “How old are you again, Levi?”

“What? You know I’m 24, why?” He furrows his brow.

“And you’re already managing your own team, and responsible for three products.”

“Yeah” he smiles a little

“That wasn’t a compliment.” Dahlia says deadpan.

“Okay..” Levi’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and he’s ready to argue, but Dahlia shushes him with a raised hand.

“You’re working yourself towards burning out. You don’t do _anything_ besides working your ass off, do you?”

Levi scoffs.

“Of course I do. I… I do some mean grocery shopping.” And he’s moved from defensive to sheepish just like that.

“ _Online_ grocery shopping doesn’t count.” Dahlia rolls her eyes. “And your social life is pretty much non-existent. For all I know I’m your only friend in this city.”

Levi can’t argue with that, so he hangs his head in defeat.

Sia’s muffled beat starts droning on about swinging from a chandelier. Levi feels like puking.

“I should go home.” He starts to stand up. After a little wobbling, he thinks he might even make it to the elevators without tripping over his feet.

 

……..

  


Taryn Helm is a lovely shade of crazy. Except when she’s dragging Levi to a party where he doesn’t know anyone. Right now she’s just being downright insane.

“Have you missed the part where I told you I moved here to get stress free? The last time I was at a party I freaked out.” He gestures wildly while she’s pushing him by the shoulders out of her front porch door.

“And I told you it’s a chill get together for a few people, not a rager.” She pats his shoulder and starts walking by his side down the street. They are walking to the party because apparently, this is what you do in small charming towns upstate. “It will be good for you. You have to make friends around here to help settling down”

“I’ve already got you.” He is not whining, he’s almost sure.

“You need friends, _plural_.” She elbows him and smirks sideways “And no talking about work.”

“Well, is not like there is any work to talk about right now.” he says reaching to adjust his glasses and finding nothing there. It is an adjustment to the contacts, still in process.

“A sabbatical is _not_ a contract termination, Levi.”

“But it feels like it” he mumbles.

Taryn stops walking and Levi takes a few steps before he notices it. He has to turn back to see her standing with hands on her hips. He half expects her to spring a cowboy hat and draw a gun and say ‘this town ain’t big enough for the two of us’, but she just squints.

“The whole point of moving here is for you to figure out how to be a person beyond work, right?” She finally fires away and it hits him square on the chest. So he just nods and she goes on. “So I’m going to help you do it and you will not fight me on this or so help me god I’ll punch some sense in you.”

“Right” Levi’s eyebrows shoot up and he’s almost raising his hands to placate Taryn. But then she grins, skips a step as if preparing to go full on musical dancing style and starts walking again.

“Glad we’ve got that clear.” She loops her arm around his, probably a mix of moral support and assurance he won’t start running away “Now let’s go have some _moderate and chill_ fun, Glasses.”

“That nickname, again?” Levi’s eye-roll is unavoidable.

Taryn just laughs.

“I’m glad you’re here, dork.” she says it like someone complains about the weather.

There’s a bit of silence before it dawns on Levi that he’s glad to be here too. And he tells her just that.

 

…….

 

Atticus Lincoln sure is the awesome buddy Taryn was gushing about. The moment they arrive at the party at his place he is all his teeth and smiles and envelopes her in a bear hug. Levi lounges back a little, hands on his pockets, and the tiny unease that he’s going to be left out in a place where everybody knows each other comes back. Taryn feels like a lifeline right now and the moment she ditches him, he’s sure it will be downright unpleasant and awkward, standing by the side trying not to feel out of place. Then he’ll have to deal with all thoughts spiralling back and-

“So, you’re the big shot friend Hellmouth won’t shut up about.” the party host says and snaps Levi back to reality with a hand landing on Levi’s shoulder.

Levi’s eyes scan his surroundings real quick, taking in the comfy, spacious, living room decorated with a mix of car and sports posters, and the furniture that doesn’t exactly match.  There is low key music that someone is playing on the guitar and no more than fifteen people mingling about between here and the kitchen that he can see behind the man currently clasping his shoulder. It all takes a second before comes back.

“Don’t believe everything she says?” He kind of winces a little, more out of reflex than anything, and finds out that he did really forget how to interact like a human being that isn’t a work machine. He manages a small smile though.

That is enough to get a hearty laugh from Atticus - no, Link, that’s how Taryn said he likes to be called - and a few pats on Levi’s shoulder. Taryn joins in the laughing.

“Don’t worry. It was all good things.” Link says after coming back.

“Mostly” Taryn chimes in.

Link snorts at that.

“Let me show you around, bud” he slings an arm around Levi’s shoulders like they’ve been best buddies for a long time, hooks his other around Taryn’s and they’re off to an impromptu grand tour.

“Hellmouth, uh? It fits.” Levi muses out loud without thinking and Taryn is making her trademark fake-annoyed face.

Levi is introduced to a bunch of friendly faces. There are some people cooking and drinking wine, while another group huddles around someone playing the guitar. They all seem to genuinely welcome him, and somehow he finds himself more at ease. A woman called Maggie stops chopping carrots to offer him some wine, but he ends up getting a bottle of water. Then he’s listening to someone recount Hellmouth’s latest face-off with a certain barista that she always seems to get into fights with.

“What, she never gets my name - or my order - right” Taryn explains with raised eyebrows and mock exasperation.

“That’s just because you and Carina are madly crushing on each other” Maggie intervenes “and you both seem to have the maturity of fifth graders.”

“You’ve had too much wine, missy.” Taryn points to her newest offender, whilst everyone else around seems to be having too much fun. Levi is too. “We need a change of scenery.” And she drags Levi bak to the living room.

They find some spots on Link’s tacky but too comfortable sofa and sit quietly to appreciate Link and other guy playing guitars while an older man with a raspy, pleasant voice, sings that _the thrill is gone._

The words strike Levi like he’s just stuck his finger in a power outlet. He realises that he’s been having fun for the first time in, what, years? He’d always pictured himself like someone who was really passionate about his work, but it did not bring any joy to him anymore. The thrill was really gone, it seems.

Taryn pats his knee and says she’s gonna get another beer and asks if he wants one too. He smiles and shakes his head.

“I’m gonna stick to water for now.”

She’s off and people are passing the guitars around, while Link starts to sing a song Levi doesn’t know, and his voice is surprisingly pleasant.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Levi turns to see the man who was singing before sitting down on a chair beside him.

“Oh-yeah. I’m Levi. Levi Schmitt, Taryn’s friend.” He jerks his hand up.

“Richard Webber.” He has a wise smile and shakes the offered hand before Levi can start wondering if the hand thing is a little too much. “I own the only diner downtown, so I know pretty much everyone around these parts. Couldn’t help noticing the new face.”

“It seems like a nice city.”

“Mainly good people around these parts.” Richard nods and looks around. “And good food too, I might say.”

Levi laughs at that.

“I’ll have to taste that for myself, then.”

“We’ll be waiting for your visit. Taryn always grabs something to eat in the mornings, on the way to work so you might want to join. You moving to town?”

“For a while, at least.” Levi shrugs. “I’m in some sabbatical, of sorts. De-stressing, it seems.”

“Life in a small city like ours will be good for you then.”

Levi smiles and he’s just about to say something about life in big cities but it kind of slips his mind. He gets distracted by the guy that’s just walked through the door carrying plastic bags and a six pack of beer and is smiling brightly, shaking Link’s hand, and then bro-hugging him.

It’s not that he’s the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen - although he is magazine model gorgeous level with the square jaw and sharp angles to the face. His height - at least six foot or more? - and swooped up hair finish to make up the standard hot guy checklist. But it is his smile that has just a little hint of goofiness and the way his eyes crinkle and…

“Nico is sure a good looking fella.” Richard is following Levi’s stare and has a pensive expression with a hint of a smile.

Levi’s attention is dragged back to reality and his brain short circuits.

“I wasn’t- I mean, it’s not what…”

Richard laughs heartily and pats Levi’s arm.

“Don’t worry, there is no crime in looking.”

Levi’s shoulders uncurl a tiny little bit and a small smile finds his way to his mouth. He clears his thoughts and stands up.

“I think I’m gonna get myself a drink.” And he chugs his water down before moving to the kitchen.

Taryn is clutching his arm right when he walks in and she is dragging him all the way to the stove.

“O my god, you have to taste Maggie’s special sauce, it's heavenly.”

Maggie smiles like someone who is used to being complimented and extends a wooden spoon so Levi can try it.

“It is delicious” he agrees.

“Your existence is actually not a total waste, it seems, Megs.” Taryn drops in

“You say the sweetest things, Hellmouth.” And Maggie’s smile has just a hint of irritation around the corners, but still seems like something the both of them are used to doing.

They enter a banter of who’s actually a waste, and Levi’s dragged in when Taryn says that he might actually the biggest waste, burying his life on work and all. Then Levi sees himself telling about what’s like to live back in the big city, and what life in the tech industry is like.

“P.O.? What does it stand for.” Link is asking because he’s just been dragged by Taryn to taste Maggie’s magic sauce.

“Perfectly Odinary.” Taryn says with too much certainty.

Levi slaps her arm.

“It means Product Owner. Basically, I managed teams that were responsible for developing and updating apps.”

“Oh, so you one of those programmer dudes?” Link says while fishing for more sauce. Maggie snaps his hand away.

“Wait until its ready.” She says

“No, I used to be a designer before I got promoted.” Levi goes on “I used to design the screens and all. Then I was managing three apps at once and seven people.” He is gesturing with his hands now and almost knocks of a bottle of wine. He jerks half with surprise, half trying to save it but someone grabs it first.

“Thanks, I’m such a disas-“ and Levi looks up to see the perfect square jaw and crinkly eyes from before half smirking at him. And here comes the brain-freeze again.

“It’s ok.” Nico says, touches Levi’s shoulder lightly and strides off. He manages to get a taste of Maggie’s sauce before getting back to the living room.

Now Levi has forgotten what he was even saying.

“You’re saying you _were_ managing a team.” Maggie chimes in “You don’t do it anymore.”

Levi looks at her with a blank stare. What is she even going on about?

“His current position is Chill And Stress-Free Dude.” Taryn slings an arm around his shoulder and looks Levi dead in the eye. “And that’s enough work talk for one day.”

“Hey, you started it!” His mind has come back to the right track, thank God, and Levi is raising his hands in innocence.

“And I’m ending it.” Taryn stretches her neck towards a guy that is opening the fridge “Owen, when is your pool going to be fixed? We _need_ that pool party A.S.A.P.”

And the conversation moves forwards until Maggie’s sauce is finally ready and people are dipping chips and chunks of bread in it.

“Hey, guys, wait until I get it into a bowl!” Maggie is complaining but seems to be pleased that her recipe is a success.

Soon Levi finds himself, carrying three small bowls of sauce towards Link’s living room. Taryn is right behind with several plates of many varieties of bread balanced in her arms. Levi’s is dreading the moment where he’s going to drop it by accident and waste Maggie’s magical sauce, whilst envying his friend’s coordination fiercely. In the end, he does manage to get his bowls into the coffee table between potato chips bags and half full glasses, so he collapses on the sofa and sighs his relief.

“Thank god I didn’t drop it.” He mumbles to himself.

“I would be here to catch it again if you did.” says Nico who happens to be sitting right beside him is smirking again “You were good either way” he winks and Levi feels like a fish that has just been yanked from the water.

“Maybe you should follow him around everywhere, then” Taryn is hellmouthing as she sets some bread plates on the table and picks up sauce bowls to distribute around the house. “Nico, have you met Levi?” She makes the introductions while tidying up the coffee table.

“Link was just telling me about your big shot friend that just got in town” he answers her, but he’s looking at Levi.

Levi has to find something to divert attention from the weird heat he feels creeping up on his face, so he aims for his friend.

“What kind of stories have you been telling people about me, Taryn?” He fires away, and thank goodness Nico is looking at Taryn’s busy handiwork now.

“Only the truth, Glasses. Only the truth.” And she’s off to the front porch where the majority of guests seem to be entertained by Link and Richard.

And Levi is alone. With _that_ guy.

“Glasses? That a nickname?” Nico picks up where Taryn left.

“Yeah. She calls me that since the day I got wasted back in college and freaked out about losing my glasses. They were kind of hanging by my collar the whole time, and I just found them after I lowered my head to puke all around the floor. I usually put contacts on to avoid things like that.”

“I bet you look cute wearing glasses” Nico is smiling at him. Then he is standing and saying he’ll be back in a second and Levi is sure he scared him off with his uncontrollable babbling.

The moment he finishes berating himself for his lack of social aptitude, Nico is already back.

“There you go.” Nico extends him an open bottle of beer - no the cheap kind but what looks like quality craft brew.

Levi grabs it automatically.

“For me? Thanks.” He looks to the bottle for a second and loses himself in thought instead of drinking it.

“Something wrong?” There is a crease in Nico’s brow that only makes him more handsome. “You don’t like beer?”

“I do, I like it.” Levi sighs “I was just thinking that the last time I drank beer I had a full-on panic attack, but maybe it was not the beer that caused it? I mean, is there a single cause to panic attacks? I’m thinking it is a combination of internal and external factors, but surely it is more stress related, so maybe beer won’t be such a bad idea drinking it.”

Nico grinning now.

“You feeling chill right now?”

“Super chill” and Levi nods more than once.

“Then just stick to less beer and more quality and you’ll be fine. Cheers” Nico clinks his bottle with Levi’s. “This is a pretty good local brand” he tilts his head back to take a swig of his own, and his throat bobs a little and its a little bit ridiculous how it looks… sexy? Levi is sure his halfway delusional by then. So he just takes a sip from his own bottle to keep from babbling something stupid again.

“It’s really good!” And he wasn’t expecting it. He raises the bottle to inspect the label.

Nico grins.

“See, totally worth it.”

“Yeah, totally.” Levi agrees. He stares at Nico, then clears his throat and raises his bottle. “So, what other local things are this good?”

Nico turns sideways to face Levi and stretches his arm on the back, almost touching Levi’s shoulders.

“Oh, have you seen the lake down south? It's amazing…”

Levi smiles softly and just enjoys Nico chatting animatedly about all the sights, and food and seasonal fairs that the city and its surrounding provide.

He feels like this sabbatical thing was Taryn’s greatest idea so far.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Casey Parker is someone Levi wishes he’d known a long time before.

“Just leave the guy alone, Taryn” Casey chastises while trying to contain his laughter at the same time. At least he’s trying to help Levi. Sort of.

After a few days of doing nothing around town and almost going crazy, Levi gets to spend the morning at the vet clinic Taryn works. While she is the animal doctor along with her boss, Casey takes care of the administrative stuff and mans up the reception from time to time. Saturdays are lazy days, so they’re all hanging around the lounge area talking about anything and nothing. Until Taryn starts jabbing at Levi about being taken for a tour around town by a certain someone.

“What!” Taryn is all mock offended and looks at Casey with mirth dripping from the corner her lips“It’s good that he found himself a boyfriend so fast. I’m complimenting him.”

Levi rolls his eyes.

“It’s not a _date_. He just offered to show me around. He’s being friendly.”

Casey is shaking his head like he doesn’t believe it even a little bit, while Taryn is squinting at Levi.

“Are you saying this so it’s more surprising when he kisses you?”

Levi opens his mouth, with no idea of what to answer but then the door chimes and a woman in her late thirties walks in, blond hair tied on a ponytail, holding a fluffy little poodle on her arms. Both Taryn and Casey spring up and get in motion.

“Hey, Frankie.” Taryn is walking towards her hunching a bit, hands on knees, to look at the little dog “What happened to little Pancake here?” The dog sure doesn’t look so good, all limp and tired looking.

“Oh he’s been like this since yesterday, but I couldn't let Richard alone at the diner to bring him in before.”

“C’mon, let’s get this little guy looked at.” Taryn touches Frankie’s arm and guides her to the double doors beside the reception station, towards the examination rooms.

Frankie looks at Casey while walking and he just raises a comforting hand.

“Don’t worry about paperwork, ma’am. We’ll get to it later. Go on.”

Frankie has a grateful smile on her face before disappearing behind Taryn.

“Woa, that’s a whole new Taryn.” Levi can’t help commenting.

Casey smiles and walks towards the row of orange plastic chairs where Levi’s been hunched since he got here and sits right across.

“I think she drops her defences more easily around animals.” Casey shrugs, an earnest look on his face.

Levi sobers up and looks towards the doors where Taryn was off to. He did intend the comment as a joke, but it made sense.

“Yeah, I couldn't picture Taryn doing anything else besides being a vet.” Levi finally concedes.

Casey nods and then smirks a little.

“She’d make a mean sports referee though.”

Levi snorts.

“Or a great traffic guard. She’d dish out tickets like a pro.” He quips and they are both laughing at that.

There is some silence after that, where they both enjoy just being there without the need to force any conversation. Although Levi just met Casey a few days ago, being around him feels familiar enough. It’s like Taryn manages to befriend people that somehow fit together when they meet. He kind of admires her a little more for that.

“So, you and Nico, uh?” Casey comments, still watching the beautiful morning outside, all blue skies and fat clouds, through the glass doors.

Levi groans at that, smashing a hand on his face softly.

“Really, is not like that” he almost mumbles “I’m really sure he’s just being a nice.”

“He sure is a nice guy, yeah.” Casey agrees. “But he didn’t offer to show Hunt around when he moved here last year.” And the hint of a smile and his raised eyebrows are almost challenging.

Levi closes his eyes and sinks a little on his chair.

“I mean, Taryn did tell me _is_ into guys, which by the way is a little surprising with how much he uses the word _dude_ -”

“Stereotyping much, uh?” Casey interrupts and Levi laughs

“Yeah, my bad. I think I should be checking myself for that. But even if he is gay and all, I’m still…” Levi trails off because he doesn’t know how to say it without sounding like a moron.

“What? He’s not your type?” Casey interjects and there is no little amount of surprise in his tone. “I’m not attracted to guys and even I know he looks good.”

“Ohh, no. No. He’s totally my type.” Levi crosses his moving his hands on a negative gesture with a lot of energy now “I mean, I’m not sure I have a type? It’s not like I’ve dated around, you know? Taryn is not exaggerating when she says I lived only for working, so I’ve never actually stopped to consider what is my type. But he’d definitely be it, yeah.” He is nodding more to himself than anything.

“Then, what’s the problem with it being a date?”

“It is more like the other way around. The problem.”

“What do you mean?” Casey says, hunching forward, elbows resting on his knees

“How can _I_ be his type? It doesn’t make sense. I’m a total lost cause.” Levi is almost heaving by then.

Casey is downright laughing at that.

“The sole fact the guy is coming on strong into you should be reason enough for you to know that he is more than a little interested, Levi.”

“You think?” Levi’s voice gets a little high and he clears his throat.

Casey nods.

“Believe me, this whole showing around town thing is like a huge c’mon. And we haven’t _ever_ seen Nico so invested in someone. He is an all-around nice guy, but kind of a loner, you know? He doesn’t mess around if you know what I mean. ”

“Oh” Levi’s eyebrows are almost up to his hairline by now.

“And that’s why there may be a whole crowd of people cheering on you both. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

“What? What do you mean?” Levi is sitting up straight now.

Casey laughs again.

“That’s one thing you’ll learn from small-town life. Everyone gets into everyone’s business. All the freaking time. But everyone around here means well, so it’s kind of ok.”

Levi is smiling a little after that. Then his cellphone chimes and there is a message, a smiling emoticon from Nico. He looks outside to see a big truck parked just in front of the glass doors and the man is inside waving.

“Well, I think my maybe-date is up.”  Levi says and stands up. I’ll see you later.”

“That’s more like it.” Casey is grinning. “And Levi!” He calls when Levi is halfway through the door.

“What?”

“Just for the record, you don’t look too bad yourself. Maggie just spent the night gushing about ‘how cute Taryn’s friend is, oh my god’ after Link’s party and I had to physically shut her up.”

Levi just laughs at that.

“Say bye to Taryn for me.”

 

….

Nico Kim is… something. Levi’s brain comes to a blank every time he thinks about the man on the driver’s seat right next to him. Instead, he tries not to waste too much time inside his own head. He fails just about half of the time.

“I thought we could head to the lake while the sun is up and get lunch at Joe’s, that Italian place in the district nearby I told you about.” Nico says with eyes on the road and a bit of excitement showing on the corner of his eyes. “Don’t let Richard know about that though.” He winks at Levi before going back to looking forward.

The wink does something funny to Levi’s stomach. He chooses to ignore it, laughs at Nico’s joke than jumps to the first thing that comes to mind.

“Did you live here your entire life too? Went to school with Link, and Taryn and Casey and all?”

Nico shakes his head

“I met Link back in college. My parents still live on the east coast, where I grew up.”

“And how did you end up being such a good _connoisseur_ of these parts?” Levi makes a silly voice and Nico actually laughs at that.

“I’ve been around for almost five years now.” There was a pause and Levi turns sideways a little, paying attention. Nico seems to understand it and goes on. “After graduation, I’ve spent two years in a corporate job.” he grimaces at that “Hated every second and complained the hell out of it too. So one day Link shows up at my door, fed up with working inside an office too, holding up a plan to open a metal workshop back in his hometown, in this old building he just inherited from his grandfather. And here I am ever since. It took a little to get things going but eventually, it worked out. Now we make pretty much everything from doors, railings, and structures and business kinda good.” He shrugs like its nothing. For Levi, it feels almost magical. He sighs.

“This kind of change sounds really nice. And a metal workshop? That’s cool.” Levi nods. “How did you guys go from a corporate job to that?”

Nico flashes him a smile.

“It was always a shared passion of Link’s and mine. We’d spend hours on our college workshop making stuff. It was kind of stupid that we took so long to think of it as more than just a hobby.”

“That’s kind of amazing.” Levi just stares into space and almost dives into a thought spiral about his own corporate job and all the complications in his life, but Nico pulls him out of it.

“So, you taking a sabbatical? This town’s gonna be good for stress relieving, trust me. I can’t see someone managing a panic attack with this scenario.” Nico gestures to the beautiful trees along the road and Levi can’t help agreeing to that, while internally wincing for having mentioned his panic attacks to Nico before. Real smooth, Schmitt.

“I’m counting on it.” Levi muses, and because his halfway inside his head, he just goes on “I’m not sure what I’m even going to do with my life after that.”

“What do you mean?” Nico asks and when Levi looks at him he seems genuinely interested.

“I’m not sure about my job anymore, you know?” He shrugs “Working at the company used to be pretty much what I did with my whole life. For sometime I was passionate about it, but somehow it just became anxiety and stress and well… boom. I’ve been here for, like, I week and a half and I can’t see myself going back to that.” He gestures a bit and he’s feeling a little hopeless now.

“How long is you leave?”

“Six months.”

Nico’s eyes go a little wide at that.

“How did you manage to get that much time in with a private company job?”

Levi slumped a little at that.

“It’s accumulated vacation time?” He’s a little embarrassed by that, now that’s he’s saying out loud.

“Wait, you've never taken a vacation before?”

“Not really.” His laugh is a little nervous.

“Dude, workaholic wasn’t an exaggeration, uh?” Nico laughs softly.

“No, it wasn’t. But I’m working on changing that.” Levi quips and maybe he’s feeling a little more hopeful for just saying it.

“That’s the spirit.” Nico says. “And take it from someone who’s been there, you’ll figure it out eventually. You’ve got plenty of time.” He smiles and there is a little silence before he blurts “And maybe you’ll even decide to stick around.”

Levi thinks he might just do that, yeah.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

When they pull up at the lake Levi can see that Nico’s praises to the place were far from an exaggeration. More like understating. The lake south from town is vast, surrounded by forest and hills going softly above the ground, and there are birds and a few people fishing or boating here and there. Levi kind is kind of expecting for the orchestrated soundtrack to start when he finishes taking it all in. He says so and Nico laughs at that. 

As they walk the conversation flows so easy that the whole ‘is it a date or not?’ thing fades from Levi’s mind. They walk a small track that goes around from the public parking spot towards some sort or resort that’s perched right on the next hill.

Nico tells him how the place gets packed on certain seasons, and spring is the most beautiful it gets. They walk down a small docking area and they look at the lake while Nico is recounting all the saga of setting up the workshop and the string of epic fails before both he and Link finally had it going. Levi is almost bending forwards from laughing so much.

“Seriously we had no idea that you had to get specific pipes for that much pressure.” Nico is laughing too at that.

“So you guys really flooded the whole building?” Levi is wiping a tear from the corner of his left eye.

“We had to pay for the repairs on the sidewalk too. Then we decided to finally accept that we couldn’t handle it all and hired some specialised professionals, yeah.”

“Then you guys finally opened it up?”

“After all the refurbishing, we did it. And when I suggested that we could wing it with the administration part Nico just slapped me on the head and called Casey for some consulting, so we dodged a bullet.”

“Very wise, Mr Kim. Learning from your mistakes.” Levi can’t resist quipping and Nico is laughing while scratching the back of his neck with a guilty expression that is almost adorable.

“Link does say that I may be a little bullheaded sometimes.”

Levi laughs at that.

“So after Casey jumped in you guys were all set?”

“Yeah. There may have been some fighting about where my studio would be, but I did get the mezzanine space after some compromise.”

“You’ve got a studio?” 

Nico gets all wide-eyed at Levi’s question and he makes a face like he said something he shouldn’t have. He finally exhales half in defeat, half in amusement.

“I kind of mess around with making metal sculptures in my free time.” He shrugs, and is he embarrassed right now?

Seeing Nico like that makes Levi smile. 

“Can I see it?” he blurts without thinking, and Nico is wide-eyed again.

“Oh - I don’t… I mean it’s not like I’m good, dude. I don’t even tell people about it. I don’t have formal training or anything. I just took some art electives back in college but still. It’s not a thing, you know?” 

And now Levi has made Nico uncomfortable for the way he is avoiding eye contact. Of course his social ineptitude wouldn’t be cured by a week and a half away from work.

“It’s just- I’m sorry” he whispers and deflates a little looking anywhere else but at Nico.

There is a silent pause and Nico’s sigh makes Levi chance a small glance towards him. Is he kind of smiling?

“We can swing by the workshop before after lunch if you really wanna see it, I guess.”

“No, I’m sorry if I overstepped or something. It’s okay.” Levi is raising his hands.

“It’s fine, really. You’re not overstepping.” He touches the small of Levi’s back as if to comfort him, and Levi’s brain freezes, but kind of in a good way. It gets him out of his anxiety spiral. “That’s it. We’re going to the workshop now.” Nico says with a decisive tone.

Levi is about to interject but Nico grabs his hand and smiles, pulling him back to the car, so he can’t help following.

“Just, not laughing at my bad art skills, ok?” Nico warns and Levi is nodding like crazy.

  
  


Nico Kim is an artist. Now that Levi managed to shut his crazy brain down, he is slack-jawed about how amazing the man is.

“You actually  _ made  _ this? All of it?” Levi is almost whispering. They’re standing on a wide mezzanine with wide arched windows in the metal workshop. Midday light streams on the spacious place and it feels like they’re suspended on time.

He walks around looking and trying not to touch all of Nico’s sculptures, disposed on an absent-minded way on the floor and on benches among tools, boxes and scraps of metal. The pieces range from small to man-sized, and they straddle the line between figurative and abstract, meshing angles and curves in a way that is all dream-like.

“Look, Link is always getting on my ass to stop being sensitive about this thing and I figured you’d why not start with now.” Nico has his hands on his pockets. “But, really, you don’t have to point-“

“This is amazing!” Levi cuts Nico, gesturing wildly “You’re amazing.” He turns to look at Nico and the man’s expression changes from panicked, to confused, to something Levi cannot figure out. After wandering around he comes to a stop right in front of Nico and they’re actually really close, less than a foot apart. Levi doesn’t give it too much attention because he is intent on figuring what is going on inside those dark eyes.

“You like it?” Nico finally looks Levi in the eyes, and whatever he sees it makes his expression soften.

“If I like it? I love it!” He is gesturing with his hands and they kind of bump Nico on the chest by accident “It looks like something that belongs in a gallery back in-.”

And he can’t finish his sentence because suddenly Nico’s lips are covering his own, and Nico’s hand is on the back of his neck while the other hand is pulling the front of his shirt, and it is all frantic and a little wet and wonderful, and then it’s over.

Levi almost flails forward, eyes still closed, with the sudden interruption. Nico steadies him with his hands on both Levi’s shoulders but stays a few inches apart.

“Shit.” Nico gasps “I’m sorry, that was abrupt-“

“It was perfect.” Levi can’t avoid interrupting. Then his eyes go wide “You’re sorry? For kissing me?”

“No!”  Nico shakes his head but doesn’t let go of Levi. “I was going to kiss you  _ after _ we had an awesome date. I had it all planned, but then you make me bring you here and now I jumped the gun.” He sighs.

“So this  _ is  _ a date, uh?” Levi is smiling a little now.

“Of course it is.” Nico’s voice rumbles low and he kind of pulled Levi closer a little bit. “I thought it was obvious.” His brow furrowed.

“Maybe?” Levi laughs a bit nervously at that “I’m really behind on the whole socialising department if you haven’t noticed.” He shrugs.

Nico smiles at that.

“I thought the whole bumbly thing with no filter was part of your charm.” His eyebrows are high up, and the smile turns into a grin. “And I’ll tell you what, it’s working.”

Levi smiles back and then he is bouncing on his feet and biting his lower lips.

“So” he clears his throat “I know you kind of had a plan about this date and all, but do you mind if If I kissed you again? ‘Cause I wasn’t really expecting the first one, and I really would like to enjoy it? I mean, it’s ok if you-“

Nico hauls Levi in and kisses him properly, not as urgent as before. He takes his time exploring Levi’s mouth with his own. Levi’s hands slide up to his neck, fingers are playing with Nico’s hair on their own accord. It feels like they have the whole time in the world and its soft and slow like honey.

Eventually, they come up for air. Levi rests his forehead on Nico’s chest while panting a little.

“Did you just kiss me to get me to stop talking?” Levi blurts. When he looks up, Nico’s mouth is curled up sideways.

“Yep. But it was also because your lack of filter is weirdly a turn on for me.”

They laugh about that for a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

It starts because of the smallest, stupidest thing.

It is the beginning of a lazy Friday night and Nico and Levi are at Levi’s new place. They've been two weeks into this undefined thing where they go out on dates, hold hands, kiss, make out and have sex and make dopey eyes at each other when they’re in the same room but don’t dare risking any sort of definition. 

Nico pads around not wearing shoes, just socks, jumps onto the couch and sets his feet on the coffee table, all comfortable and lazy with a relaxed expression on that beautiful face of his.

“Your place is kinda neat.” 

Levi takes two mugs filled with tea from the small kitchenette counter and sets one beside Nico’s feet while joining him on the sofa. He shoots Nico a pointed look, brows high up.

“It’s a pool-house.” He says flatly.

Nico smiles and musses up Levi’s hair.

“It’s small, yeah, but cool, Levi. Like a loft apartment with no doorman, or something.” His hand ends up on Levi’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “It was cool of Casey to offer it for you to rent.”

Levi rests comfortably against Nico’s side and sips his tea.

“It was Maggie's idea. She was the one to suggest Casey put up this pool-house to some use by renting and all. She’s kind of a control freak. But a nice one.”

Nico laughs softly at that. “I like that you’ve got your own place now. We won’t have Taryn taking tabs on you sleeping at mine.”

Levi laughs along. "This place sure is better than Taryn's couch. And the whole renting this place came up because she  was teasing me mercilessly about the amount of time we spend together, so we owe her the solution too.”

Nico smiles amused at that. “How so?”

“Well, Taryn was being her usual self when Maggie jumped to my defence and concluded that I needed privacy to, quote, _do stuff with my boyfriend_ ” Levi's laugh dies after two seconds and then his eyes go wide, mouth silently saying  _oh. “_ I’m not- she was the one. I mean- we don't have to...” He starts to pull away as he stutters his way into a weird apology.

Nico’s arm around his shoulder holds him with an iron grip, so Levi stops stuttering and ducks his head as if trying to escape the embarrassment of jumping the gun.

“Hey.” Nico whispers, his other hand coming to Levi’s cheek.

When Levi looks up Nico’s eyes are intent, a tiny corner of his mouth tugging upwards.

“I kind of like the sound of that, you know? Boyfriends. Maybe we should get on board with Maggie’s ideas. They seem wise.” And his wink makes Levi relax a little.

“You think so?.” He asks and Nico just nods. Levi lets out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding in. “Me too.” He finally croaks.

Nico leans in for a kiss, all smiles, and they end up lying on the couch, Levi underneath with Nico’s full weight on top. They take it up to Levi's new bed and that’s where the magic happens. Afterwards, they're panting legs tangled, no clothes on and silly smiles on their faces. Nico drops a kiss on top of Levi’s messed up curls.

“Now I’ve got to plan something nice for Valentine’s day.” Nico whispers, almost as if thinking out loud on a daze.

Levi’s chest warms up at that because Valentine's day is like eight months away and Nico is already making plans and it sounds so sweet. He also feels like sticking with this boyfriends thing for an indefinite amount of time. A stupid voice inside his head even says that maybe it could be forever, but he shushes it down because he is _not_ that sappy.

Then dread starts to set in because Valentine's day is eight months away, but his days in town are counted. _Less than six months now._

Levi listens to Nico’s breath slow down, slipping into a peaceful sleep. The taller man cuddles up to Levi as if his small boyfriend is a human-sized teddy bear and it would be so nice if Levi’s thoughts were not spiralling with implications of the future.

It takes a long time for him to join Nico on dreamland, and he kind of hates himself the whole time it takes to sleep for ruining such a sweet moment with his head going haywire. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope I did ok on this first schmico try lol
> 
> Comments are much appreciated :)
> 
> Oh, and if you ever wanna chat about schmico I'm cloudofgears on tumblr!


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